What He Needed
by Zoey Nightrod
Summary: His first impression of her was 'annoying' and 'irritating'. But she brought light into his life and, perhaps, that was what he needed in the end.


**Author's Note: Another little one-shot I came up with. I hope you all enjoy and don't forget to review! If I get enough requests, I may extend. It's all up to you guys! Now, I hope you like! **

**Try listening to 'Crash' by You Me At Six. It is the song I was listening to while I wrote it and fits amazingly!**

What He Needed

It was a usual afternoon for the blond bartender of HOMRA; customers came and went, glasses were filled and emptied. It was around three o'clock. The bell above the door chimed softly, catching Izumo's attention.

"Welcome," he greeted the new customer as they walked forward and took a seat on one of the stools. He picked up a glass and began wiping it clean, pausing only to get a closer look at the person in front of him. A frown slowly replaced his light smile.

"Sorry. I don't serve people underage," the blond said, hinting that he would not give her any alcoholic beverage due to her age. The woman glanced up from straightening her shirt.

"I'm not underage," her brows furrowed together. "I'm twenty-one." Izumo raised a skeptical brow.

"I've heard that one before." His voice was dull. "Please leave. I don't want any trouble."

The female in front of him bit her lip then began to dig through the purse at her side. After a minute of rummaging through the small bag, she let out a confident 'ha!'. Grinning widely, she flashed the card at him.

"See! I'm twenty-one. Says so right here!" Izumo leaned forward to peer at the driver's license. His eyes skimmed the black print until they found her birth date. She crowed again. "I'm twenty-one!"

"…As of tomorrow," he stately flatly, glaring up at her through tinted sunglasses. The girl let out a surprised yelp.

"What?!" she yanked back the card and her eyes locked on the date.

"They screwed up my birthday!" came the anguished cry. She scowled at the object then looked back up at him. "I'm of age," she whimpered. "Really, I am!" Izumo rolled his eyes.

"Ok, whatever. Just come back tomorrow." The young woman tried to reason with him.

"But... but its true! I really am twenty-one…" her voice trailed off as she stared at the card sadly. The blond in front of her just let out a frustrated breath.

"Listen, I have other customers I need to tend to," Izumo said, feeling slightly sad for the girl. "Just come back tomorrow." He repeated what he had said earlier, hoping she got the message. His statement didn't seem to reach her ears. At last, the worn-out bartender caved.

"Alright," he sighed, not fully believing what he was doing. "What do you want?" The small figure raised her head, victory showing in her emerald green eyes. She thought for a second.

"Ginger ale." Izumo felt his eye twitch. She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "You don't have any?" The eyes behind the purple tinted sunglasses closed and reopened.

"We have ginger ale," he growled through clenched teeth, angry that she hadn't wanted alcohol in the first place. She was grating on his nerves. He turned his furious gaze on her. "You aren't going to order anything alcoholic? After all the trouble you gave me?" The girl fidgeted.

"Well," she began, wincing when his angry glare didn't lessen. "I've never tried something strong like that before." The green eyes looked back up at him hopefully. Izumo let out another sigh.

"Fine. I'll get you the drink," He left the bar and disappeared into a back room. Five seconds later, he reemerged, holding the green can. It was nearly the same shade as her eyes, he noted. "Here." He thrust the can at her. She took it eagerly, but paused before opening it.

"How much?" Izumo let out a puzzled 'huh?' in response.

"The drink," she explained. "How much is it?" There was a 'pop' as the seal was broken. Izumo waved a hand as she took a sip.

"Don't worry about it," he spoke hurriedly, wanting to get to the other people in the bar. The girl insisted.

"What's the price?" Izumo glanced back at her. An idea came to him.

"The price is that you get out of my bar as soon as you're finished," The blond raised a brow. "Deal?" She nodded. With that, he left her alone and began to wait on new customers. Twenty minutes later, he stole a glance at the seat she had been sitting at and was relieved to find that it was empty.

"Good riddance," he mumbled, wiping down a table.

_She was annoying. _

* * *

The next day, a half hour before closing time, the bell chimed softly. Izumo began his familiar greeting.

"Welco- Oh no, not you again." The word was cut off as he took in the short stature and jade eyes. She was back. He let out a groan when she took her seat in front of him. He shut his amber eyes and hoped that when he opened them, she would be gone. He opened them and a card with black print was blocking his view.

" 'S this?" he asked, the Kyoto accent becoming noticeable with his surprise. The woman grinned.

"They fixed it!" she exclaimed happily. "I went back yesterday and told them that it was wrong so they printed me out a new one! Told you I was of age!" Izumo grunted.

"Guess so," he said reluctantly. "Did you want something strong today, then?" The girl opened her mouth to reply but hiccupped instead. Izumo's eyes widened. However much he wanted to, he couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped him. The girl frowned as she hiccupped again. He narrowed his eyes.

"You're not drunk, are you?" he questioned, putting together pieces that probably weren't fitting where he was putting them. A new of-ager that had a troublemaking streak seemed likely to get drunk from her first time drinking alcohol. Izumo didn't feel like dealing with this girl when she was intoxicated, let alone at all. But she shook her head at the question.

"I'm not -_hic!_- drunk," she protested. "I just _–hic!-_ get the _–hic!-_ hiccups a lot." Izumo eyed her warily.

"Susceptible to hiccups?" The thought made him laugh. She nodded, shoulders shaking with each jerk. Izumo watched her with amusement, each time she hiccupped making him burst into laughter. She glared at him, clearly annoyed. A good five minutes later, he wiped away a few tears from his eyes and started to walk towards the back.

"Hang a second," he said, still fighting the urge to laugh. She waited for him to return. He walked back to her, a glass of water in his hand. He slid the drink over to her.

"Here." She took the full glass and poked at the ice. "It'll help with getting rid of them." She looked at him then raised the glass and began to drink. Meanwhile, Izumo tended to his remaining customers. Once the last one left, he strolled back to her.

"Better?" he asked, smiling. She nodded.

"I think they're gone," She drank the last of the water and set the glass down. A moment later, she let out a high pitched _–hic!-_. Izumo sighed. "Or not," she said grudgingly. Silence settled between them.

"Hey, where is the _–hic!-_ bathroom?" She looked around. "Because I really _–hic!-_ am going to _–hic!-_ have to _–hic!-_ pee." Izumo pointed.

"It's down that hall on the right." She slid off the stool and wandered over to the hall and peered down it.

'Dark' was her comment, followed by a loud hiccup. She disappeared down the hallway, and Izumo could hear her footsteps echo. A little while later, she came back and sat upon the stool. He glanced at the clock on the wall above him.

"You're going to have to leave in a few minutes," he spoke, his hands never stopping in drying a glass. "It's nearly closing time." He caught her silent nod out of the corner of his eye.

" 'Kay," she agreed. Sure enough, the clock hit the hour and Izumo motioned to the door.

"Off you go." The girl walked reluctantly to the door and pulled it open enough so that she could slip through.

"I'll be back," she called, then slid through the gap. The door closed behind her with a soft thud.

_But maybe she wasn't so bad, after all._

* * *

For the next week, it was the same. She would come thirty minutes before closing time and sit in the same seat. She would order the same ginger ale and whenever she asked the price, he would say the same thing.

_'The price is that you get out of my bar as soon as you're finished.'_

She would always agree without a word and he would look back to see the seat emptied. Another week followed the first, then the second, then the third. Eventually, a month had passed without change. Izumo found himself looking forward to her visits, despite what he said to the other Homura members. On the day that marked a month since her first visit, Izumo got the scare of his life.

It was the day the shooting happened.

* * *

"Kusanagi-san, how many times are you going to look at that clock?" Yata's voice brought Izumo back to the present. For the past ten minutes, he had been repeatedly glancing at the old style timepiece hung on the bar wall. It was twenty minutes to closing time and she still hadn't come. Izumo scowled, highly displeased.

"She's late," The frown stayed in place while he furiously scrubbed at a glass. "She's always here thirty minutes 'til closing." Yata shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe she's not coming today. Maybe something came up." The skateboarder shrunk back from the glare the blond gave him. "Just trying to help," he muttered, turning back to the glass of orange juice in front of him. Izumo let out a huff.

"She's _always_ here," emphasized Izumo. "_Always_." The word seemed to hang in the air. The time ticked by. Izumo snuck a glance at the clock.

Fifteen minutes until closing.

The bartender was about to say something to the redhead in front of him when a loud shot pierced the silence in the bar. Izumo halted in his cleaning and froze. For a strange reason, coldness creeped over him. He quickly walked over to the wooden bar doors and grasped the handle.

"Who the hell is shooting near my-" The sentence was cut off as he yanked on the handle. His amber eyes locked immediately on the small bloodied figure collapsed on the stairs leading up to the bar.

_"Luciella." _He breathed the name as he stared at the unmoving body. Two seconds later, he was rushing out of the building and to the young woman who had frequented his bar so many times in the past month. He knelt down and picked her up, being careful not to injure her more. Blood poured from a wound in her midsection and soaked her white shirt crimson. Izumo held her against him, speaking to her to wake her up.

"Luciella! Wake up. Look at me," he ordered, aware of the unstopping blood. Her breathing was faint and labored. "Don't you dare go to sleep!" Slowly, painfully, the familiar emerald eyes opened.

"Bar… tender?" she said, blinking groggily. Izumo let out the breath he had been holding. The nickname gave him some reassurance.

"It's me." He brushed back a strand of the blonde-streaked brown hair. Her eyes focused on him and she smiled.

"Sorry for… being late," came the shaky apology. Izumo shook his head.

"Don't worry about that now," he said, motioning to one of the people next to him.

"Chitose, get the first-aid kit," the blond demanded then turned back to the girl in his arms. Her eyes were closed once again. The man returned with the kit and held it out to Izumo.

"Here, Kusanagi-san."

Izumo seized the outstretched box and Rikio knelt down across from him.

"I can hold her, if you need." The chubby blond offered and took the girl from Homura's second-in-command. Izumo jerked the kit open. He lifted her shirt enough to see the wound and swore.

"Damn it, the bullet's still there." He searched through the box and pulled out a set of tweezers. "I'm going to have to remove it." He rolled up her shirt a few inches. After a few very distressing moments, the bullet was pulled out. It and the tweezers were dropped onto an unfolded cloth Totsuka held out. The young man folded the cloth back up and went inside. Izumo grabbed the antiseptic liquid bottle.

"This may sting a bit, okay Luciella?" She opened her eyes and watched as he poured some of the clear liquid onto a cloth. She nodded and he pressed the cloth to her skin. Luciella let out a loud hiss as it made contact with the open wound.

"Sorry," he murmured, intent on his work. Once the wound was clean, Izumo wrapped it tightly, making sure it wouldn't bleed through the layers.

"I'm done," he said quietly, more to Luciella than anyone else. The injured female let her eyelids droop.

"Can I go to sleep now?" Izumo smiled at her and gently stroked her cheek.

"As long as you promise me one thing," he said. Luciella looked up at him.

"What's that?"

His amber eyes fixed on her emerald ones; Izumo shakily gave her an answer.

"Promise me you'll wake up."

Luciella let out a small laugh. Before her eyes slid completely shut, she gave him two words that meant the world to him right then.

"I promise."

_Because maybe she was exactly what he needed._


End file.
